Great fast food

Two fish tacos, rice and beans. The perfect fast lunch

Usually I like my Mexican food from a hole in the wall where they don’t speak English. It’s more authentic, tastier, just more real. Professionally run, corporate managed places tend to make bland, predictable, boring Mexican food. You won’t find me at Taco Bell, but this new place Rubio’s Fresh Mexican Grill, is a major exception.

Yesterday, I played in a sectional in Saratoga, and my partner and I had to find a place to eat between sessions. Saratoga is way too upscale for any hole in the wall Mexican, so we drove around a shopping center and ended up at Rubio’s. I recognized the name because they have a store near the Kohl’s in Pleasant Hill, although I had never been there.

Rubio’s serves fish tacos. A few other things, but mostly fish tacos. You can have battered haddock or grilled salmon, tilapia, mahi mahi or shrimp. There’s some chicken and beef on the premises, but they don’t make a big deal of it. Order a plate and get two sides–pintobeans, red beand, chips or rice. They have salads and burritos, but what they do best, and they do it very well indeed, is fish tacos.

I had the battered pollock, Jerry had the grilled salmon. They were both excellent. There is a table with 4 different salsas available so you can spice it up to your hearts content. The usual soft drinks. Corn tortillas, the flour cost 30¢ more.

The price is fast food reasonable–my two taco plate and a drink was about $8.50. Service was fast, and the manager is walking around to make sure everything is to your liking. The restaurant is clean and well designed and doesn’t blow your ears out with loud music–a frequent failure of the hole in the wall.

I love this place. If they put in wi-fi I’d sit there and blog all day.